J O S H
When we get off the plane even with the displeased looks, we get from the crew I have a big smile on my face. My ass hurts like a son of a bitch, but I will gladly take this pain any day. Ryder has not said a word since we exit and won't even look at me properly and my good mood suddenly drops. I still keep a smile plastered to my face so he can't see the hurt that this is causing me.
Did I do something wrong?
I shake the unwanted thoughts from my brain, because if he didn't want to, he wouldn't have taken me the way he did in that tiny bathroom. That was the hottest thing that has ever happened to me. I will not let his gloomy mood bring me down.
"Our ride's here." He says as he looks at me for a brief moment and then keeps walking towards the car. He keeps his eyes on everything,every movement and every sound around us. He opens the door for me and I almost step back, shocked to see my dad sitting there in the town car.
"Hello son."
My body goes rigid because the greeting is not how it used to be. It's not the father I miss and long to still have, but the businessman instead. I tense but when I feel a hand on my lower back, I relax a little.
"Dad, what are you doing here?" I say as I get in and then Ryder behind me. He doesn't even look up from his phone and the smile I plastered on my face falls. What was the point of him coming here if he doesn't even notice me.
"Can't I greet my son." Still not looking up as he finishes up what he is doing. I feel my fingernails dig into my palms. The anxiety already ready to surface and we haven't been here for five minutes.
"You're not even looking at me." I mumble but he doesn't hear me. He finishes what he is doing, then looks at the both of us.
"After the banquet your services are no longer need Mr. Dawson."
"What?!" We both say in unison looking between each other and then back at my father.
"There was no real threat. It was all staged." His phone beeps and then he goes to answer it without another word to us.
"Is he fucking joking?" Ryder spits out. His whole body is shaking with rage, and I just want to reach out try to soothe him. "I don't know." I whisper on the verge of tears, because what the hell is this all about? I really wish mom was still alive because my father wouldn't have been like this if she was here.
"I don't like this. Something doesn't seem right." Ryder talks lowly to me, and I have to agree to a certain degree.
My father finally ends his call as soon as we reach his mansion that I dread being at. When mom was alive, we lived in a big house but nothing like this. This place is just for show with its big iron gates that leads up to a winding driveway. Everything is in its place, like I said all for show. I liked my place where everything is not so...fake. Once out of the car the chauffer opens our door and my dad steps out and then Ryder than me.
My Cowboy still looks around the perimeter like there is a threat ready to bound out at any moment. Is everything this man does so damn sexy? Clearing the lustful thoughts from my brain I remember that I need answers. Of course Marshall Harlan will not say anything until we are all seated in his study. Before he can speak Ryder beats him to it.
"What the fuck is all this about?"
My father glares at him with his cold hard stare, but it does not intimidate Ryder the least. He just glares right back at him.
"Maybe we should have this conversation alone."
What the hell does that mean? I dig my fingernails into my palms again until I hear a growl from beside me. "Stop that Josh." He stares at me, and I drop my hands to my sweatpants and lay them flat on my legs. My father gives us a smug smirk.
"You have done what no one else has been able to do." I look at my dad and then at Ryder who scrunches his brows in confusion. He waves his hand dismissively and then pours himself a glass of Scotch. "I have been trying to get this boy to take things seriously, and all he does is think that life is one big joke." I go to open my mouth and say something, but nothing comes out. "Never taking the company serious or even life. Just wants to go clubbing all the time."
I have been to a club like four times in the past year. How the hell is that a lot?
"So, there has never been a threat? All those times you said someone was after us, threatening us...it was all a lie?"
"Yes." He says with no emotion and my body shakes so bad. "That' why your services are no longer needed Mr. Dawson. You got him to listen on a moment's notice and that's what I needed."
Ryder starts laughing a dark sinister laugh as my eyes sting with tears. "Your delusional." It's the first time I see emotion on my father's face of pure shock. "If you think anyone can make Josh, be some sort of puppet and bend to your will, you are dead wrong mister. This man..." He points to me and since we got off the plane, I see emotion in his eyes. "He tells me to go fuck myself on a daily basis. Josh is no one's bitch."
Can I kiss him right now? Please...pretty, pretty please.
I stand up and will the tears at bay and look my father dead in the eyes. "After this banquet I am done. I am only going because it was a benefit mom started." My father's eyes close for a moment and I hope the man I knew would come back. The moment he opens his eyes, I know wishes don't come true.
"You'll have nothing."
"I'll have everything...my freedom." With that I walk towards the door and look back at Ryder. "Are you coming?" He nods his head and walks towards me.
"Mr. Dawson we are not done yet."
Ryder turns around and his anger returns as he takes a step forward, but I grab his wrist. He shakes my hand off of him and takes a deep breath.
"I don't owe you shit remember my services are no longer needed." He turns back around and walks to the door with me but moves his head to look back at my father. "However, you do owe me what I am owed." With that we both walk out of the office and into the room I have here.
The moment I close the door the tears fall, and I cannot stop them, even when his strong arms engulf me, I still continue to fall.
"When he pays me that money, I'm giving it to you." I shake my head, but I know he is not going to have any of it. When he pulls back and looks down at me, I give him a smile even if my heart is breaking in two right now.
The thing that scares me more than anything is that after this banquet I might never see my Cowboy again.
YOU ARE READING
Never Say Never
General Fiction(Completed)Book 5 of the It Just Happened Series. (This can be read as a stand-alone book, however there is mentions of the characters in the other books as well.) Ryder Dawson has just come home from his last tour of duty broken and lost. He does n...
